(This blog is part two of a 12-part series on emerging opportunities for local investment that are especially important in the post-COVID era. It’s drawn from my new book, Put Your Money Where Your Life Is.) Last week I talked about how investing in yourself by paying off your credit cards was the single best …
(This blog is the first in a 12-part series on emerging opportunities for local investment that are especially important in the post-COVID era. It’s drawn from my new book, Put Your Money Where Your Life Is.) One of my favorite Gary Larson cartoons is of a crisis clinic on fire, floating down a river, about …
Many of us show our compassion and generosity through acts of adoption. Adopt a tree, adopt a baby giraffe, adopt a schoolchild, etc. For the last two weeks, my partner Audrey and I adopted a lovely four-legged pooch named Annie. Her “person,” a close friend, had to travel to Western Massachusetts to be with her …
My recent recommendation to radically overhaul public procurement (one of “A Dozen Asks for Your Governor”) elicited lots of great questions. Today’s blog explains in more detail what needs to be done and why. Let’s begin with the bottom line: In 2017, according to Census data, state and local governments collectively spent about $3.7 trillion. …
I’m currently offering a workshop on how to help revive your community’s economy as the COVID-19 pandemic recedes, through a specific, comprehensive local investment strategy. You can find details for planning a virtual or live (should that option become feasible) workshop on my Speaking page. Feel free to reach out to AudreyDumentat@gmail.com for more details.
I’m pleased to report that crowdfunding reform has just reached an important milestone in the state where I live—Maryland. Legislation just passed by the state legislature and signed by Governor Marty O’Malley now allows every Maryland resident to lend up to $100 to any local business with virtually no legal hassles whatsoever. The fact …
Six Guidelines for Business-Investor Conversations By Jenny Kassan and Michael Shuman What kinds of conversations can a business owner have with potential investors without breaking the law? Over the past year many local investment advocates and practitioners have sought our advice in answering these questions, and this blog attempts to provide some answers. The law …
Every Community Needs a Neighborhood Exchange Three years ago, the Maryland Neighborhood Exchange was just a dream. We envisioned creating a website listing great local investment opportunities in Baltimore and mobilizing residents to invest in them. Here’s what’s happened since: The Exchange has helped 44 Baltimore businesses successfully raise $3.3 million from nearly 6,000 investors. …
If you’ve read my blogs over the past year, you understand why local investment is an essential tool for revitalizing your community. It also can improve your own bottom line, as well as your family’s and friends’ bottom lines. Now I want to show you how you can become an expert local investor. Here are …
Every community in America is struggling to recover from a year of COVID-19 shutdowns and could benefit from a surge in local investing. Yet only a handful of communities are prepared to embrace this strategy. An inspiring example is Market Center in Baltimore. I’m now working with the Market Center Merchants Association to embark on …
Last week, I offered 18 of 27 New Year’s Resolutions on how you can create a vibrant local investment ecosystem. You and your neighbors can use your savings to boost your community’s economy and speed its recovery from COVID-19. I suggested ways to get your local businesses “investment ready,” to create more investment options for …
Happy New Year! If you are unsure how to fix your community after a year of COVID shutdowns, bankruptcies, deaths, and despair, I’d like to offer 27 resolutions. The focus of all 27 is how to jump-start your economy by mobilizing local capital for local businesses, projects, and people, in relatively easy and inexpensive ways. …
Read more27 New Year Resolutions for Community Renewal (Part I)
If you believe the portrait of rural America depicted in the Netflix film Hillbilly Elegy, you might conclude that its residents are hopelessly impoverished, addicted, and depressed. That’s also the view of Eduardo Porter in “The Hard Truth of Trying to ‘Save’ Rural America,” whose much-discussed piece in the New York Times argues that the …
Please, no! Not another economic development study on how to expand the local clusters! Haven’t we learned anything about the fragility of global dependencies from this pandemic? Last week, I spent several hours reading two recent economic-development studies done for Ulster County, New York. One was entitled “Food and Agriculture Cluster Development.” It was a …
Congratulations, fellow localizers! Our arguments are winning! Why else would the globalization elite be going out of their way to attack us? The lead editorial of the November 7th issue of the Economist skeptically asks, “Why Is the Idea of Import Substitution Being Revived?” Import substitution, of course, is a technical term for localization, where …
No, not the election. But a revolutionary change in securities law. Last week, in a 3-2 decision, the Securities and Exchanges Commission (SEC) tweaked a bunch of regulations concerning investment crowdfunding. The headliner change increased the maximum amount a company can raise in a year from $1 million to $5 million, which means that many …
